Is it legit?
The cheapest Banksy you’ll ever have a chance to buy.
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My take is it is legit. I’ll let you make up your own mind.
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Ukraine War: Inside the relief effort to help Bakhmut residents
Crazy to think that there are still civilians in Bahkmut. The government gave "mandatory’ evacuation notices to all civilians on the front lines in Donetsk as far back as July. It is estimated that there could be up to 15 000 who have still not evacuated out of a prewar population of 80 000. Australian population centres (2016 census) for comparison:
| Toowoomba | 100,032 |
|---|---|
| Ballarat | 93,761 |
| Bendigo | 92,384 |
| Maitland (NSW) | 78,019 |
| Mackay | 75,704 |
| Launceston | 75,328 |
| Bunbury | 71,094 |
| Rockhampton | 61,213 |
| Gold Coast - Tweed Heads (Tweed Heads Part) | 59,780 |
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There appears to be no limit on his folly, unfortunately.
His delusion is complete, and will remain that way while other people pay with their lives for his vain glorious attempts to build an empire. He deserves to fail and will.
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Lol. Margarita Simonyan will not give up Crimea without WWIII.
https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1599243012789264384
I am archiving this video to add to the Margaret Simonyan gag reel
https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1538911097138331648
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bump her to the Hague
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Morning
Girkin’s summary of events on the front
Widescale HIMARS targeting of russian bases and troop accommodations throughout the russian rear last night. Big explosions reported in Tokmak, Melitopol, Kadiivka, Belbek airport in Sevastopol, Simferopol, Yalta, Bakhchysarai and Dzhankoy in occupied Crimea, Saki airbase in Novofedorivka,
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https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1601693056834551808
Drinking Vatnik alert
What makes it a classic:
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Second wave of mobilization in Russia | How 2023 may begin (Eng subs) - Max Katz
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Soldiers being crammed into a few buildings with heating…
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Apologies, one further post on russian propaganda…
Time for a reality check - When reality hits the propaganda machine | Eurozine
The effectiveness of Kremlin propaganda is based on a tangled bundle of lies and half-truths. Reality, however, cannot be distorted forever. As Europe needs to bring vision back to politics, can Russians finally emerge from their echo chamber?
Surfing the political segments of the internet, it is almost impossible not to bump into ludicrous clips from Russian propaganda television: one moment you might confront Vladimir Solovyov, the most notable propagandist of Putinist Russia, comparing German chancellor Olaf Scholz to Adolf Hitler in an awkward impression; the next, you might encounter the ‘let’s go full World War III’ escapades of Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russian propaganda media channel RT. Alternatively, you could run into the work of more secondary figures, delivering stand-up routines that, to an outsider, might appear unhinged.
Despite the bizarre and evidently distorted reality conjured by Putin’s media strategists, their propaganda has proved considerably effective even outside Russia. Not in the sense that many people in Europe believe in the Russian message. From a European perspective, Russian propaganda consists of nothing more than blatant lies and deliberate disinformation. The problem is more subtle.
The goal of Russian propaganda is not to convince its audience. It doesn’t sell anything concrete, be that a message, an idea or a proposition. Propaganda sells a structure of feeling; in other words, it sells a vibe . In the case of Russian propaganda, this consists, on the one hand, of great uncertainty as to what is going on, what is real and what is not, and, on the other, of being overwhelmed with conflicting opinions, interpretations and hypotheses.
Usually, it emerges from pundits’ flooding the discourse with unchecked information, provocations, suspicions, conspiracy theories and half-truths, mixed with (why not?) straight truths. It becomes easier for consumers of information to wave a whole topic away than to begin to attempt to unravel this tangled bundle.
Yet while this strategy has facilitated Russia’s launch of the brutal war against Ukraine, it may also be responsible for the political and military defeats it is currently suffering. In the long term, it may prove instrumental in Russia’s painful decline. Reality can’t be distorted indefinitely – not without dire consequences for a state’s executive function.
To understand how this distorted reality has been shaped in the case of Ukraine, let us consider Russian war propaganda in its three distinct phases.
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Aftermath. Roasted in the barracks. Graphic Content.
https://twitter.com/herooftheday10/status/1601710390844747777
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For something completely different - A brief Introduction to Slavic Myths and Legends.
I never knew Perun was a pagan Slavic deity similar to Zeus.
Famous painting of folk house magic titled “Yuletide Fortune Tellers” by Ukrainian painter Mykola Pymonenko (1888)
In the 10th century, Volodymyr the Great of Kyiv began an initiative to bring legitimacy and a sense of organization to the pagan beliefs that were widespread in the Kyivan Rus. As a great leader, it seemed to vex him that these Slavic gods did not require the grandeur of massive temples as the gods of cultures in the Mediterranean and beyond did. He hastily erected, at the top of one of Kyiv’s most scenic hills, statuary of the Slavic gods, with names like Perun, Veles, Dazhboh, Stryboh, and the goddess Mokosh. In particular, Perun and Veles were extremely important in the Kyivan Rus - and there is some evidence that citizens of Kyiv essentially “claimed” one or the other as their god, in a kind of duality.
Perun, silver haired and golden mustached, to whom oxen were sacrificed and for whom oaks were sacred, was most prominent. He was particularly worshipped by warriors, wielding a stone hammer and creating thunder, lightning and rain. His thunderbolts - Perun’s arrows - were often found on the ground as petrified lightning. He first appeared in written history in the 6th century chronicles of the Roman historian Procopius.
Veles was missing from Kyiv’s scenic hill but had his idol venerated in Kyiv’s merchant quarter. He was the god of cattle and, by extension, of riches, wealth and prosperity. There are some who believe that Perun and Veles were in opposition to each other, but this is disputed by certain academics.
Dual Faith
It was only several years later that Volodymyr famously accepted the Byzantine form of Christianity on behalf of the Kyivan Rus (he was later made a saint for this act). He had Perun’s statue torn down, beaten with sticks, dragged behind a horse and thrown into the Dnipro River. The bank on which it eventually washed up, beyond the rapids of the river, was called “Perun’s Shore”. Veles suffered a similar fate; his stone idol was thrown into the river near where it had been worshipped in Kyiv’s Podil district. Resistance to the new religion, particularly amongst the commoners, created a kind of dual faith (academically referred to as a “vernacular religion”). This new hybrid religion, a colorful mix of pagan nature worship and Christian myth and imagery, was more prominently synthesized in Slavic regions than other areas of Europe.
A side effect of this dual faith was that some of the “high mythology” like Perun and Veles were outright replaced by the Christian god - but the “low mythology” - things like spirits, and the demonology of Slavic myths were kept. As you can imagine, this is quite an interesting chimera of beliefs!
The holidays of Malanka (New Year’s Eve on the 13th of January) and Easter unapologetically kept their pagan origins. The summer solstice festival of Ivan Kupalo took only its name (John the Baptist) from Christianity and kept its prehistoric features of bonfires, reveling, fortune-telling and courtship. The dual faith not only allowed this persistence of ancient celebrations but guaranteed that a rich and bewildering underworld of demons and otherworldly beliefs would live on until even modern times.
Domovyk
One of the most interesting deities from Ukrainian mythology is an odd little guy that resides in your home - a symbol of goodness and home comforts. Domovyk is your family’s very own “god” - the guardian of the house and family. As a rule, Domovyk is invisible. Unless you’re in his inner circle, you are NOT going to see this dude. If Domovyk is visible - it is only to the owners of the house or those people who treat it well. Some believe that only those pure of heart can see Domovyk - like children and pets.
Domovyk may be described as a small shadow, resembling the silhouette of a man, sometimes with glowing eyes. Sometimes Domovyk can look like a man but then again sometimes it looks like a gray or white cat, dog, calf, occasionally - a bird, a snake. Crazy! Some say it is shapeless and hairy, or that it can appear in any form at all. Domovyk is neither male nor female. It has been known to wear a warm little coat and pants but sometimes nothing at all. It very often enjoys a smoke of its little pipe and it lives in the attic, under a stove, lots of places… generally dark or hard to get to corners.
If you are smart you will avoid ■■■■■■■ Domovyk off, as when it gets angry it can cause some serious damage. Typical Domovyk disruption of peace and quiet when ■■■■■■ off. It can knock things down, scatter things or hide things so you will never, ever find them (car keys for example). If really upset, it can resort to choking people in their sleep, freaking out your pets or chasing your horses away. And if that happens you might need to chase it away and start fresh with a new Domovyk, which is NOT easy, believe me. And in a worst case scenario, Domovyk can leave the house and wander off and word might spread among others to avoid your house (PERMANENT BAN).
Domovyk, if treated well, is very kind and brings to your home a sense of coziness. It protects the home from any kind of weather disasters, and nurtures horses, cows and other livestock. It even performs little odd jobs for the owners when they are not looking. And it scares away the thieves if they try to steal from you - it plays annoying little tricks on them or even just ■■■■■ them up.
Domovyk helps the family to prepare for holidays or for the visit of important guests. Domovyk brings a sense of tranquility to family life.
Though we all have a desire for authenticity, we have to recognize that myths and legends are often contradictory, and any particular story doesn’t necessarily belong exclusively to any particular group. Tales change with time and with the teller and straddle both linguistic and geographic borders!
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For those overwhelmed with the small details that are filtering out, I see the war currently like this:
- ground won’t be solidly frozen until January. Currently in a freeze/thaw cycle weather system that gets soldiers wet during the day and then kills them overnight. This is an attrition phase, with mobile war expected in Jan-Feb.
- northern sector at Kremmina/Svatove has consistent slow success for Ukraine, building on the Lyman offensive from a couple of months back. This is pushing through a dense line of crappy mobiks, so now harder to make fast progress than when Russia was short on manpower. Intent is to open up holes in the line to push through once the ground is firm, hopefully get behind the main Russian lines and capture some significant territory.
- Bakhmut is escalating. Masses of low quality troops being thrown into the grinder. Some buildings on the edge of town have been taken, but it’s going to be an absolutely brutal fight for Russia to take the town as every single street has been fortified. Ukraine still has resupply lines north and west. The Russians are acting like they have a time pressure, maybe scared of the weather? Don’t see this falling in a hurry, but painful to hold.
- South East corner is critical for the Russian army to secure. With the Crimea rail bridge out of action, the only intact rail line to the south is within Ukrainian artillery range. Russia will push this area hard so they can start using that rail line for the entire southern resupply. This seems to be the main focus of Russian quality forces freed up from holding Kherson.
- Southern Front seems to be a Ukrainian shaping operation for future offensives. With the Crimea Bridge and the eastern rail line cut, rate of supply is challenged. Missile strikes on barracks and equipment/munitions stockpiles are escalating. This will grind down significant Russian fighting power in this area, which MAY indicate a push south in January. Reports of Russia doing deep strikes on Ukrainian tank units about 50km back from this front, which supports this idea. With strong intel and HIMARS, Ukraine can take out dozens to hundreds of Russian troops each night by identifying and eliminating winter shelter barracks.
- Russia will have a few hundred thousand troops with marginally better training available by Spring. This phase needs to keep Ukrainian fighting power and take out Russian forces at a high rate to maintain the balance into 2023.
All this is vibe. Both sides will try to drop surprises on the other, but from what we can see, this is roughly the pattern.
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